Judge Blocks North Dakota’s Six-Week Abortion Ban

A federal judge has ruled that a new law passed by the North Dakota legislator, which would outlaw abortions as early as the sixth week of pregnancy, may not go in effect as planned on Aug. 1. The law would be the most restrictive in the country by making abortions after the sixth week of pregnancy—the point at which a fetal heartbeat can be detected—illegal throughout the state. In his decision, which temporarily delays the law until it can be decided by a trial, U.S. District Judge Daniel Hovland wrote , “[It] is clearly an invalid and unconstitutional law based on the United States Supreme Court precedent in Roe v. Wade from 1973.” Pro-life advocates of the law hope that the case could ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court …